


The Dawn Of Hope

by MysticAmyCat101



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Character Death, F/M, M/M, Ship tags suspect to change, Until Dawn AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-21 20:56:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17649722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticAmyCat101/pseuds/MysticAmyCat101
Summary: When eight friends are trapped on a remote mountain retreat and things quickly turn sinister, they start to suspect they aren’t alone.





	1. Friendship

Cold bitter air attacks Kyoko’s face the minute she exits the bus. She barely flinches at the assaulting cold, merely raising her scarf to cover the bottom half of her face as she trudged on through the snow. A sense of familiarity settles in her heart as she gradually makes her way towards the wrought-iron gate separating the Komaeda estate from the rest of the forest. But it’s a feeling that’s quickly permeated by a sense of sorrow. For it was only a year ago that she, and all the others, lost two people very dear to them. She recalls listening to the podcast on the bus earlier; The two teens, missing since last year after running off into the woods after a terrible prank. Chiaki Nanami and Hajime Hinata. Not even their bodies were found. Their fates still remain unknown.

So lost in thought is she that she almost walks directly into the aforementioned gate. A fluttering note stuck crudely in between the bars catches her attention and with pursed lips, she pulls it forwards. Using the light of the moon, she can just make out the scrawled message.

 

_ Gates broken. Climb over. Sorry! _

_                   -Naegi _

 

“Ever the apologetic,” she says with a bemused chuckle. She sticks the note back into place so others who may come later than her can see it. Taking a step back, she observes the gate and the surrounding cobblestone walls.

With iron spikes decorating the top of the gate, it is immediately ruled out as an option. The cobblestone walls however seemed much easier to scale and flat on top to allow for easier access to jumping down. With a nod to herself, she trudges to the wall and gazes up at it; mentally going over the best way to climb up with little to no slippage. Shouldn’t be too troublesome.

  
  


As Kyoko had expected, climbing up and over the wall had been a piece of cake. The path up to the cable car station was thankfully free of large piles of snow or fallen branches and trees, making for a pleasant stroll. She even managed to feed a squirrel. Arriving at the station, she found it was more desolated than she had anticipated. She and Naegi had planned to meet here at the station after all but all that’s visible is his plain backpack left on one of the benches underneath the sheltering of the station. Making her way to it, she calls out his name in hopes of hearing a returning call. But she’s greeted with silence and the creaking of the woods. But the sudden sound of a vibrating phone catches her attention. 

Looking to his backpack, she can just about see his phone leaning haphazardly out of the smaller pocket. And while she can’t see the entirety of the name, she can make out the beginning letters: “Saya-” Well, there’s only one person that she knows of that could be messaging  Naegi. Her fingers itch to pull the phone out and see exactly what the reason could be but a part of her tells her it’d be wrongful to snoop. She’s a detective who investigates crime scenes and killers, not friends. She pokes the phone back into the pocket and zips it shut, stepping back and turning.

“Kiri!” A smile crosses her face as Naegi steps out from around the building and jogs over to her. She pulls her scarf down to reveal said smile and his own grows into a grin, hugging her as tightly as he could. Pulling away, he grabs his backpack.

“What were you doing behind the building?” She asks.

“Oh! I got curious as to what was around here while waiting for you. I found a shooting range but that was pretty much it. I didn’t even try to touch the gun,” he replies, pulling a key from his pocket and unlocking the cable station door.

“Why would there be a shooting range at the base of a ski lodge?” Kirigiri steps inside and Naegi locks the door behind them.

“Komaeda’s dad likes to hunt! He’s a big fan of it actually. I think it may even be why they bought this entire mountain.”

“Perhaps.”


	2. 21:11

       Makoto wishes he had a better grasp on how to start conversations. Even with friends as close as Kiri, he struggles with making idle chit-chat that can last for a while. It’s not as if the silence between them is awkward; with her, it never can be. Makoto just prefers noise over complete silence when there was no need for it. Their footsteps fall loudly on the wood-paneled floor as the two make their way up to the boarding area, where the cable car is to stop so they may get a ride up the mountain. To their dismay however, the cable car isn’t as close as they had hoped.

Kirigiri leans against the railing, pushing herself outwards so she can attempt to see if the cable car was at least approaching. Makoto puts a hand on her arm out of paranoia; Even if she was to somehow fall over, with arms like his, he’d likely have no hope of actually holding or pulling her back up. With a sigh, she leans back.

“Seem’s we’ll be waiting here a few more minutes, at the most. The cable car can’t be too far off.”

“Well, that’s not too bad. At least it's not an hour or anything,” he says, hand falling away as he turns and walks back inside to try and escape the cold. Kirigiri remains by the railing, presumably so she may call out for him should she see it’s arrival, so he takes it upon himself to start poking around as they wait. 

 

The inside is fairly sparse, save for the control system for the cable cars, multiple desks with junk piled atop them, and a t.v. set up in the corner. Whistling to himself, he looks over the controls with only slight interest. Systems such as these and the likes have never really interested him. They confused him to be exact and he was always worried that he’d mess with something crucial when forced to deal with them. It's exactly why he doesn’t even remove his hands from his pockets as he looks down at it, only allowing his eyes to flick from one button and switch to the next. A sudden memory of Chiaki messing with the controls the last time they were up here hits him in the stomach like a baseball and his shoulders fall. She knew how to use this like she ran the place; always had been pretty good at learning the controls for--well, anything. The memory makes him wish they were all reuniting under better circumstances. 

“Naegi!”

His head snaps up at the call of his name and his smile returns when he sees Kirigiri waving at him through the large window, her other hand placed against the cable car. 

  
  


“Do you think it is right of us to revisit the lodge on this day?”

Makoto turns away from the frosted glass of the cable cars windows to look at Kirigiri, who is seated beside him. Her hands tighten around themselves as they rest on her lap and her face is closed off, shuttered so he cannot see just what she was thinking. It’s an expression he knows well by now but it doesn’t mean he’s grown any fonder of it. In fact, it made him worry for it usually meant she was doing her best to hold herself together. As a detective, she has to keep her emotions in check. He just wishes she didn’t feel like she had to do the same around him. 

“I mean,” she continues, turning her head so she can meet his gaze, “Of all days to come back…”

She glances down at her lap as Makoto reaches out and places his hands atop hers. He waits for her to look back up before giving her a reassuring smile and speaking. “I know. It’s...kind of weird to be back on the exact same day that...everything happened. But, I’m sure it’s for the best. I mean, we’re here for Komaeda right? And I haven’t seen him so excited since we lost Hajime and Chiaki.”

Kirigiri nods in agreement and she musters up a small smile of her own. Makoto wasn’t lying at that fact. The video that had been sent to them had shown Komaeda like they haven’t seen him in months. He was smiling. Happy. He just wanted them to all meet here again. For things to be like they used to be. Who could refuse such a thing?

Her hands relax beneath his and he pulls away, relieved to see her expression open up. It wasn’t the evident worry from a few seconds ago, having returned to her usual neutral smile, but even that is better than the stone-faced expression she wears. Still feeling sentimental however, Makoto nudges her arm with his shoulder so she can look back up at him. 

“Do you know how me and Komaeda met?”

She purses her lips in thought for a moment before giving a shake of her head. “I don’t believe either of you have ever recounted the tale.” 

Makoto grins and he eagerly shuffles forward in his seat. “It happened in elementary; third grade actually. Komaeda had sat in the back of the class and I sat in the front since I was kind of the teachers pet, I guess.”

He flushes a bit at the admission and Kirigiri gives one of her small, breathless laughs, worsening his blush and forcing him to look away as he continues. 

“Anyways, this one kid in class started snapping the straps in the training bra of this girl named Miu in class. So, of course, the teacher had to move her out of his seat in the back and put him up front. So we ended up switching seats and I wound up in the back, next to Komaeda. The rest is history! It’s weird now that I think about. If Miu hadn’t went into puberty way early, then me and Komaeda may have never even met. You may be sitting here with someone else entirely! I think it’s called-”

“The Butterfly Effect.”

He looks back at Kiri, who’s smile has become purely genuine. He smiles back and nods.

“Yep. The Butterfly Effect.”


End file.
